Bengals stressing throws under pressure by Andy Dalton at OTAs

A year removed from floating a few important passes out of bounds, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is undergoing an overhaul of sorts in OTAs.

New Bengals quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt is helping Dalton relearn how to fire the ball off while under pressure. Having imparted some of the same knowledge on Aaron Rodgers, it’s safe to say Dalton is in good hands.

“For a guy like Andy, he should be able to drop five steps, take a hitch, have a clean pocket and complete a pass. That’s what’s expected of us, right?” Van Pelt said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “You have to train the stuff that’s the hardest. The hard plays are the ones I’m trying to train these guys to make.”

Van Pelt says the objective is to make the uncomfortable, comfortable: “Things you have to disconnect your upper body from your lower body. Unless you work it, it’s tough. You try to get used to making the hard plays.”

Dalton has never been exceptional under pressure, hence the quick release of the ball on most plays. But whereas in the past he’d feel pressure that wasn’t there at times if things weren’t going well, in 2017 he tossed a pair of passes on fourth down near the ends of games out of bounds.

It’s no secret Dalton is reliant on the team around him, hence the poor numbers resembling something from his rookie year in 2017. But this under-pressure training is what Bengals coaches meant when they said this offseason would be about pushing Dalton past his limits.

Rather than hoping the talent props him up, Dalton has the Bengals training him in new ways this offseason.